NFL Recap (New Orleans-Carolina)
Posted: Sun November 1, 1998 at 5:52 p.m. EST
CAROLINA 31, NEW ORLEANS 17
CHARLOTTE, North Carolina (Ticker) -- Steve Beuerlein threw a
pair of touchdown passes to lead the Carolina Panthers to
their first win of the season, 31-17 over the New Orleans Saints.
With former teammate Kerry Collins on the
opposite sideline, Beuerlein connected with Muhsin Muhammad from one
yard out on the opening drive to give Carolina a 7-0 lead. The play capped
a 17-play, 73-yard drive that consumed more than 9 1/2 minutes.
"It feels wonderful," Beuerlein said. "It still wasn't a pretty game
but now the monkey is off our back. The opening drive was exactly how we
wanted to start the game."
"It's certainly a good feeling to get our first win," added Carolina
coach Dom Capers. "The team works hard. You reach this point where five
of the first seven games we're throwing into the end zone to win. This
game is a game of execution, it's as simple as that."
Muhammad, who enjoyed career highs with nine catches and 192 yards
earlier this season against the Saints, finished with three catches for 23
yards.
Cornerback Eric
Davis scored on a 56-yard interception return to double the Panthers'
lead at the two-minute warning and Fred Lane ran it in from
five yards out to push the margin to 24-3 with 2:14 to play in the third
quarter.
"Davis was squatting over there and made a nice play," said Saints
quarterback Billy Joe
Tolliver. "We have to make plays. We needed this game."
Lane was the Panthers' leading rusher with 101 yards on 35 carries.
"It should have been like this all year for us," he said. "We're
excited, but the season isn't over with yet. It felt good to know that
they had faith in me. Hopefully it will happen many more times this year."
Beuerlein delivered a 33-yard scoring strike to Raghib Ismail to push the
spread to 31-10 less than 5 1/2 minutes into the final period. Ismail had
just two catches for 45 yards.
Beuerlein went 13-of-17 for only 132 yards but improved to 1-3 as a
starter since taking over for Collins. Carolina (1-7) had lost nine
straight dating to last season.
Collins, the Panthers' first-ever draft pick in 1995, touched off a
controversy on October 7th when he walked into coach Dom Capers' office and
asked to be removed as the starting quarterback. Capers demoted Collins to
third string, replacing him with Beuerlein.
After failing to work out a trade, Carolina waived Collins a week
later. The Saints claimed him, picking up his $1.15 million salary for the
rest of the season. But he never entered this game as New Orleans failed
to complete a sweep of the season series.
Both teams tried to downplay the Collins situation.
"It's dead issue for us, we wish him well," Beuerlein said.
"It was probably strange for him and strange for us," added Capers.
The Saints (4-4) have lost four of five games since opening the season
3-0. They recorded a sack for the 59th consecutive game, three short of the
NFL record held by the Washington Redskins.
Carolina avenged a 19-14 loss in Week Two and leads the all-time
series, 5-3.
Tolliver completed 24-of-48 passes for 325 yards and two touchdowns
for New Orleans.
"I didn't make plays in the first half," he said. "We lost this game
today because I played like (crap)."
"The effort is not the problem, the execution is the problem," New
Orleans coach Mike Ditka said. "Offensively, we did nothing until the end
of the game. I am no less proud of the effort than when we win. The only
people that can change things are us."
Tolliver hit rookie Cam Cleeland with a two-yard TD pass 48 seconds
into the final quarter to draw the Saints within 24-10. Tolliver was
4-for-4 for 58 yards on the eight-play, 67-yard drive.
Cleeland finished with three catches for 62 yards and leads all NFC
tight ends with 28 receptions for 400 yards.
Tolliver added a six-yard scoring strike to Brett Bech with just under
two minutes to play to provide the final margin. On the previous play,
Tolliver kept the drive alive with a 23-yard pass to Bech on 3rd-and-15.
Bech, a third-year receiver, had four catches for 40 yards. Sean Dawkins was New
Orleans' leading receiver with six grabs for 102 yards after hauling down
five passes for 110 yards and a touchdown in the first meeting of the
season between the teams.
Troy Davis led the
Saints ground attack with 45 yards on 11 carries.
© 1998 Sportsticker Enterprises, LP
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